PRINCE2 Fundamentals

with Claudine Peet

Stage 2 Plan
Project Name: BG Apps Flexible Working

Date: Today Release: Draft

Author: Project Manager

Owner: Project Manager

NOTE: This document is a sample document intended to demonstrate the typical contents required. All
names and information relate to the fictitious scenario provided.

Revision History
Date of next revision:

Revision Date Previous Revision Date Summary of Changes Changes Marked

Today

Approvals
This document requires the following approvals. A signed copy should be placed in the project files.

Name Signature Title Date of Issue Version

Senior User Today V1.0

Executive Today V1.0

Senior Supplier Today V1.0

Distribution
This document has been distributed to:

Name Title Date of Issue Version

Team Manager Today V1.0

Project Support Today V1.0

PRINCE2 Fundamentals with Claudine Peet

1 of 6
Overview

Purpose A plan provides a statement of how and when objectives are to be achieved, by showing
the major products, activities, and resources required for the scope of the plan. In PRINCE2,
there are three levels of plan: project, stage, and team. Team Plans are optional and may
not need to follow the same composition as a Project Plan or Stage Plan.

An Exception Plan is created at the same level as the plan that it is replacing.

A Project Plan provides the Business Case with planned costs, and it identifies the
management stages and other major control points. It is used by the Project Board as
a baseline against which to monitor project progress.

Stage Plans cover the products, resources, activities, and controls specific to the stage and
are used as a baseline against which to monitor stage progress.

Team Plans (if used) could comprise just a schedule appended to the Work Package(s)
assigned to the Team Manager.

A plan should cover not just the activities to create products but also the activities to
manage product creation, including activities for assurance, quality management, risk
management, configuration management, communication, and any other project controls
required.

Advice The Plan is derived from the Project Brief, Quality Management Strategy (for quality
management activities to be included in the plan), Risk Management Strategy (for risk
management activities to be included in the plan), Communication Management
Strategy (for communication management activities to be included in the plan)
Configuration Management Strategy (for configuration management activities to be
included in the plan), Resource availability, and registers and logs.

The Plan can take a number of formats, including a stand-alone document or a section of
the Project Initiation Documentation, document, spreadsheet, presentation slides, or mind
map, or entry in a project management tool.

The schedule may be in the form of a product checklist (which is a list of the products to be
delivered within the scope of the plan, together with key status dates such as draft ready,
quality inspected, approved, etc.) or the output from a project planning tool.

The following quality criteria should be observed:

• The plan is achievable
• Estimates are based on consultation with the resources, who will undertake the work,
and/or historical data
• Team Managers agree that their part of the plan is achievable
• It is planned to an appropriate level of detail (not too much, not too little)
• The plan conforms to required corporate or programme standards
• The plan incorporates lessons from previous projects
• The plan incorporates any legal requirements

PRINCE2 Fundamentals with Claudine Peet

2 of 6
 • The plan covers management and control activities (such as quality) as well as the
activities to create the products in scope
• The plan supports the Quality Management Strategy, Configuration Management
Strategy, Risk Management Strategy, Communication Management Strategy, and project
approach
• The plan supports the management controls defined in the Project Initiation
Documentation

Plan Description
(Covering a brief description of what the plan encompasses—i.e., project, stage, team, exception—and
the planning approach)

This is the plan for stage 3 of the project, covering fit out of the office space, installation of IT
infrastructure, and equipment.

Plan Prerequisites
(Containing any fundamental aspects that must be in place, and remain in place, for the plan to succeed)
• The office design must be finalised and supplier appointed for the office fit out.

• Funding must be in place to commit to the installation of IT infrastructure and equipment.

• Suppliers must have been appointed for the IT infrastructure installation and supply of IT equipment
and office equipment before the stage starts.

External Dependencies
(That may influence the plan)
• The new processes being created outside the project will be available for staff training.

Planning Assumptions
(Upon which the plan is based)
• It is assumed that the staff resources required to be involved in testing the new infrastructure and
equipment will be available.

• It is assumed that these resources will not need any additional skills to conduct the testing.

• We have assumed that the costs and timescales estimated are accurate.

• We have also assumed that there will be no further scope changes to the office layout or design
following approval of the layout in the previous stage.

PRINCE2 Fundamentals with Claudine Peet

3 of 6
Lessons Incorporated
(Details of relevant lessons from previous similar projects, which have been reviewed and accommodated
within this plan)
• We have previously undertaken an office refurbishment, which ran approximately 20% over budget.
We have made an allowance for this in this plan.

Monitoring and Control

(Details of how the plan will be monitored and controlled)
• Over the four-month duration of this plan, reports will be generated fortnightly to inform the Project
Board of progress.

• The reports will use the standard Highlight Report template.

• The Stage Plan is to be updated at least at the end of each week, reflecting current actuals against
the planned estimated schedule.

• If any issues or risks arise, the standard approach to managing risks and issues should be used.

Budgets
(Covering time and cost, including provisions for risks and changes)
• This stage has a timescale of 4 months.

• The budget is allocated $375,000.

• There is a small change budget of $15,000 allocated.

• There is currently no risk budget assigned.

Tolerances
(Time, cost, and scope tolerances for the level of plan, which may also include more specific stage—or
team-level risk tolerances)

Time: +1 week
Cost: + $15,000
Scope: None
Risk: Any risk event that may result in data corruption or loss should be escalated to the project board
immediately

PRINCE2 Fundamentals with Claudine Peet

4 of 6
Product Specification Documents
(Include here any product specifications that have been created for the deliverables of this stage. These
will be handed to the team managers and teams when they are given authorization to begin work; the
quality tolerances will be defined in each product specification document.)

See the attached product specifications at Appendix A (not actually included for this exercise file; see the
separate exercise file provided for the product specification.)

Schedule
This may include or reference graphical representations of the following (not included for this exercise file):
• Gantt or bar chart

• Activity Network

• Product breakdown structure

• Table of resource requirements—by resource type (e.g., four engineers, one test manager, and one
business analyst)

• Product flow diagram

• Table of requested/assigned specific resources—by name (e.g., Nikki, Jay, and Francesca)

The schedule may also be in the form of a product checklist as shown below; dates have been left blank
intentionally.
Product Product Title Product Draft Ready Final Approved Handed Over
Identifier Description Quality (if applicable)
approved Check
completed
Plan Actual Plan Actual Plan Actual Plan Actual Plan Actual
xxx Installation of hardware
infrastructure
xxx Testing of hardware
infrastructure
xxx Office fit out

xxx Installation of hardware

xxx Testing of hardware

xxx Installation of software

xxx Testing of software

PRINCE2 Fundamentals with Claudine Peet

5 of 6
 Product Product Title Product Draft Ready Final Approved Handed Over
Identifier Description Quality (if applicable)
approved Check
completed
xxx Installation of equipment

xxx Testing of equipment

xxx Staff training on new

processes
xxx Staff training on
equipment

PRINCE2 Fundamentals with Claudine Peet

6 of 6